Christie lawyering up?

posted at 9:21 am on January 16, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

This story initially started swamping my Twitter timeline, at least until the Oscar nominations got announced and everyone debated why Tom Hanks got overlooked in Captain Phillips, which got a nomination for Best Film. (As I predicted, Twin Cities resident Barkhad Abdi got a supporting actor nomination for the film.) Before that, though, the announcement that Chris Christie brought in outside counsel to deal with the US Attorney probe into Bridgegate got the buzz:

Christie’s office is bringing in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Leading the team will be former assistant U.S. attorney Randy Mastro, who co-chairs the law firm’s litigation group.

This isn’t as big of a deal as it looks. When something out of the ordinary arises on a legal front, it’s not unusual for any organization, including governments, to bring in outside counsel. In-house counsel usually have a full plate with their regular workloads, and hiring more lawyers would be more costly in the long run than contracting the effort. Besides, in a situation where the issue is inside the organization, it’s better to get outside counsel who have no ties to the rest of the organization, and who will have more experience in dealing with the opposition on the legal issues in play.

At any rate, Christie isn’t the only one hiring legal gunslingers these days. Bill Stepien, Christie’s former campaign manager who got cut loose this week from the Christie bandwagon, hired some pretty high-powered attorneys, too:

Bill Stepien, Gov. Chris Christie’s former campaign manager and senior aide who was jettisoned in the wake of a controversy concerning the George Washington Bridge, has obtained a lawyer to represent him in the ongoing investigation.

Kevin Marino, of Marino, Tortorella & Boyle in Chatham, N.J., will be representing Mr. Stepien, according to Leon Sokol, the attorney for the Assembly transportation committee that has led the investigation into lane closures ordered by Mr. Christie’s allies. …

His boutique firm has handled a number of high-profile financial cases, such as the espionage case against former Goldman Sachs Vice President Sergey Aleynikov for charges that he sold trade secrets.

Christie’s political opponents brought in outside counsel for their probe into the administration, too. They hired the man who helped take down Illinois’ Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich:

New Jersey lawmakers investigating political tricks that emanated from Governor Chris Christie’s office hired as special counsel the lead prosecutor in the corruption trials of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Reid Schar was the lead prosecutor in both trials of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, ending with Blagojevich’s conviction on sweeping corruption charges and 14-year prison sentence. In perhaps the defining moment in his career as a prosecutor, Schar opened his cross examination of Blagojevich in the second trial in 2011 with a simple but tone-setting question: “Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Blagojevich had been convicted of a lone count of perjury in the first trial in 2010, but jurors deadlocked on other counts.

Other notches in Schar’s belt include former Blagojevich fundraiser Tony Rezko and and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, who was accused of aiding the radical Palestinian group Hamas and ultimately convicted of obstruction of justice. Near the end of his 12-year stint at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Schar served as an adviser to Patrick Fitzgerald, giving input on charging decisions, management and personnel, and a host of other issues.

Democrats hired the man who torpedoed Democrats in Illinois? No hard feelings, I guess, but it’s going to make Blagojevich’s claims to have been the victim of a political railroading a wee bit harder to sustain, no?

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If I were Christie I’d have zero worries. This fight is as much about internal Democrat party politics in New Jersey as anything else. There is just so much ill will about the abandonment of Buono, and the kowtowing to Christie in last falls election on the part of some Democrats, particularly on the part of Loretta Weinberg and the dedicated partisan fascist/lefties.

This story initially started swamping my Twitter timeline, at least until the Oscar nominations got announced and everyone debated why Tom Hanks got overlooked in Captain Phillips, which got a nomination for Best Film. (As I predicted, Twin Cities resident Barkhad Abdi got a supporting actor nomination for the film.)

Not to derail the thread, but Best Actor was really competitive in 2013. Hanks had 2 roles he could’ve been nominated for. Redford was getting some run for All Is Lost. So was Joaquin Phoenix for Her. And Hugh Jackman was incredible in Prisoners. It’s a shame so many actors were shut out, but the only questionable nomination in that category was Christian Bale. And unfortunately, American Hustle is getting way overrated by critics and awards groups.

More of the “your tax dollars at work” campaign. Say, isn’t this a shovel-ready job?

“I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six stimuli or only five. To tell you the truth, in all this excitement I lost track myself. But you gotta ask yourself a question – do I feel stimulated? Well, do you … punk?”

On its face this is a non-story. “Lawyerin-up” does not signal any smoking gun or culpability necessarily. Anyone with a brain in any official capacity (public or private sector) would engage outside counsel to ensure the individual’s interests are not trampled.

If I were Christie I’d have zero worries. This fight is as much about internal Democrat party politics in New Jersey as anything else. There is just so much ill will about the abandonment of Buono, and the kowtowing to Christie in last falls election on the part of some Democrats, particularly on the part of Loretta Weinberg and the dedicated partisan fascist/lefties.

MTF on January 16, 2014 at 9:33 AM

Oh I think he’d have a few legitimate worries even if he was really completely ignorant of those bridge closings. Wrongful termination lawsuits, false light defamation/invasion of privacy, and civil lawsuits from citizens who claim to be “victims” of the bridge closure, just to name a few. He could be innocent as an angel for all we know, and there would still be plenty of reason for him to lawyer up.

On its face this is a non-story. “Lawyerin-up” does not signal any smoking gun or culpability necessarily. Anyone with a brain in any official capacity (public or private sector) would engage outside counsel to ensure the individual’s interests are not trampled.

dpduq on January 16, 2014 at 9:40 AM

All true. But think of the field day the lawyers will have with this if Christie runs in 2016.

This story initially started swamping my Twitter timeline, at least until the Oscar nominations got announced and everyone debated why Tom Hanks got overlooked in Captain Phillips,
==============================

The strange thing is that Christie had reelection in the bag, just as Richard Nixon had reelection in the bag, running against McGovern in 1972. Yet Watergate happened. The similarities are so great that even AP’s buddy David Frum was able to see them.

..when the hell are some of his people going to start firing
back at the media??

This cicle jerk of a media frenzy makes one want to vomit.
He should start sending out his minions to bash the hell
out of the media for not reporting on Benghazi, IRS, NSA…

…fast and Furious..don’t give an inch. Tell them, you’ve told
them everything, and now it’s time for them to apply the
same Scrutiny to this President..keep repeating that
over and over until they are forced to address it…..

Our media will never look into Democrat malfeasance without
being forced to.

The way things are done by the government in New Jersey is very different than the way things are done in “flyover states.” It didn’t start with Chris Christie; it started decades ago. But, I am willing to bet that because of Bridgegate, there are going to be examples of favoritism and corruption exposed that will destroy any national ambitions Christie may have had.

Dems hired Schar just to get the headline that they hired the guy who “brought down another Governor on corruption charges.” No mention that there are several orders of magnitude difference between a couple of access ramp lanes being closed for 4 days by an independent agecy only loosely tied to the Governor, and a sitting Governor trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. And no mention of how much taxpayers’ money is going to be spent paying him to do….what, exactly?

One of the perception problems Christie has to deal with is the fact that the state Attorney General in New Jersey is appointed by the Governor. Right now that office is vacant (a career lawyer is Acting AG but he has been appointed to a state judgeship pending confirmation), and there are no other political appointees in the AG’s office, but the office does not have the perception of independence from the Governor’s office that elected state AG’s offices have. So it makes sense for Christie to hire outside counsel here.

The strange thing is that Christie had reelection in the bag, just as Richard Nixon had reelection in the bag, running against McGovern in 1972. Yet Watergate happened. The similarities are so great that even AP’s buddy David Frum was able to see them.

bw222 on January 16, 2014 at 10:01 AM

This was not about Christie’s reelection. I am alomst 100% sure of that.

Democrats hired the man who torpedoed Democrats in Illinois? No hard feelings, I guess, but it’s going to make Blagojevich’s claims to have been the victim of a political railroading a wee bit harder to sustain, no?

Lawyers and politicians are egotistical whores and ambulance chasers. If the money’s right they’ll sell out anybody and do anything no matter how dirty or underhanded it is.

Any conservative that wins the White House should have himself/herself and their press secretary troll the MSM every single day with, “I’ll answer those questions on [manufactured scandal du jour] when you start asking Obama about the four dead Americans in Bengazi.”

Hell, even under candidate status, that mentality should be adopted by the GOPe. Because you know the RINOs won’t… they just want to “look good” in the eyes of the MSM. And nice guys ALWAYS finish last.

Allahpundit, Blago went rogue and was trying to squeeze Dem establishment for money/favors. They are the ones who sold out Blago. If Blago had played ball with Madigan and raised taxes he might still be governor.

What’s the difference between a Christie staffer conspiring with Christie appointees in the PA to hammer Ft. Lee traffic as ‘retribution’ – and an Obama WH and the WH’s OMB ordering Executive Branch departments to make the effects of the government shutdown and sequester as painful as possible to taxpayers?